Archbishop issues warning over Iraq

The senior clergyman expected to become the next Archbishop of Canterbury has put his name to a declaration that any pre-emptive attack on Saddam Hussein's Iraq by Western powers would be "immoral and illegal".

Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Wales, is one of dozens of figures from various religions to endorse the declaration, which will be delivered to No 10 Downing Street on August 6.

By then, Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to have appointed Dr Williams as the new head of the Anglican church.

But Dr Williams' willingness to back the declaration suggests that Mr Blair may find himself dealing with an outspoken successor to the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey.

Drawn up by the Christian pressure group Pax Christi and published in the Roman Catholic weekly The Tablet, the declaration condemns powerful nations for threatening war.

Although no final decisions have been announced, US President George W Bush is widely believed to have drawn up plans for an invasion of Iraq, and is considered likely to call on Mr Blair for help.

Mr Blair has yet to indicate whether he would be prepared to commit British forces to such an endeavour - though he has stressed repeatedly that Saddam's weapons of mass destruction programme is a threat to regional and global security which has to be dealt with.

But the churchmen's declaration states: "It is our considered view that an attack on Iraq would be both immoral and illegal, and that eradicating the dangers posed by malevolent dictators and terrorists can be achieved only by tackling the root causes of the disputes themselves.

"It is deplorable that the world's most powerful nations continue to regard war and the threat of war as an acceptable instrument of foreign policy, in violation of the ethos of both the United Nations and Christian moral teaching."

The declaration says the so-called "war on terrorism" prosecuted by the US with the support of Britain and other allies since the September 11 terror attacks, should not be used as a cover for an attack on Iraq.

It states: "The so-called 'war on terrorism' is an act of political rhetoric that must be distinguished from a military campaign against a sovereign state. It cannot be used to justify an attack on Iraq, and any offensive planned to counteract the perceived threat posed by Iraqi weapons of mass destruction should not be represented as a war against terrorists."

The churchmen warn: "However dangerous Iraq's mass destruction weapons programme is claimed to be (though the evidence has yet to be produced), there can be no justification for war by another state unless and until the Iraqi government itself launches an attack.

"Pre-emptive war by one state against another is not permitted by the UN Charter, no matter how much evidence there may be of a potential for violence."